Apparatus for stacking lumber



April 2, 1946.- I

w. H. BEANE v APPARATUS FOR STACKING LUMBER Fil ed Feb. 8,-1943 I 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Ari-cams Y P 1946 w. H. BEANE 2,397,720

APPARATUS FOR STACKING LUMBER Filed Feb. 8,, 1943 4 SheetS-Shegt 2 P 2, 1946- w H. BEANE 2,397,720

' APPARATUS FOR STACKING LUMBER v Filed Feb. 8, 1945 4 Shee'ts-Sheet 3 w I 5 a Patented Apr. 2, 1946 "UNITED STATES PATENT." OFFICE i 2,397,720. f i

AIPARATUS FOR STACKIINGJLTJMBER Walter H. Beane, Klamath Application February 8, 1943, s rial No. 475,167 j 2 Claims.

This invention relates generally to wood sawing mills and particularly to a method of and apparatus for stacking lumber. I 1 The main object of this invention is to construct a stacker and employ a method of restacking. clean lumber as it comes from the saws into straight-sided piles, the layers of which are spaced by sticks for ventilating purposes and in which one or more spaces may be left between the boards of each layer for the purpose of keepingthe sides of the pile even and permitting air to circulate upwardly through the layers of a given stack.

v The second object is to expedite the manufacture of lumber by reducing the amount of time and labor required in the preparation of lumber for placement in the drying kiln.

These and other objects are accomplished in the manner set forth in the following specification as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan of the entire apparatus.

.Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the apparatus.

' Fig. 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary section taken along the line 33 in Fig. 1 showing the parts in position preceeding the depositing of a layer of lumber on a set of sticks.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary plan of Fig. 3 with parts broken away.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged section taken along the line 5-5 in Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary section taken along the line 6--6 in Fig. 4.

Fig. '7 is a view similar to Fig. 3 but showing the parts in position to place a layer of lumber upon the sticks.

Fig. 8 is a plan of Fig. '7.

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary elevation taken along the line 99 in Fig. 3.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

Break-down unit Referring in detail to the drawings, there is shown a set of pull-up chains II] which pass around the sprocket wheels II and I2 and are driven by the motor 13 through a reduction gear contained within the casing l4 which through a chain l5, drives a sprocket wheel [6 on the transverse shaft Il whose sprocket wheels l8 drive the chains I B;

.Chain tightening sprocket wheels l9 also engage the chains and hold them in suitable contact with the driving sprocket wheels I8. The top run of the chain It travels in the direction indicated by the arrow 20 which discharges over a pit 2|, within which is mounted a mechanical break-down mechanism which is specifically described in Patent No. 2,373,646.

Briefly, it consists of a transverse, horizontal shaft 22 which is provided with a sprocket wheel 23 around which passes a. chain 24 which is driven from a motor 25 through thereduction gear contained in the housing 26. The shaft 22 has wound around same cables 21 to each of which is attached a weight 28. The unweighted end of each cable 28 is attached to the lower end of a pusher arm 29. The upper ends of the pusher arm 29 are attached to knees 30. The knees 30 are laterally spaced and guided on the tiltable upright standards 3| which are normally in the vertical position shown in full lines in Fig. 2. The standards 3| are tiltable'about the pivots 32 and may assume the position shown in dotted lines, at which time, they rest against the transverse stop 33 which is mounted on the uprights 34.

It will be noted that the pusher arm 29 is connected to the knee'3ll somewhat outside of the center of the stack of green lumber 35 which is placed on the carrier 36. It is desirable to provide a lip 31 on the'upper ends of the standards 3| to expedite the movement of the boards from the knees 30.

A break-down operator is located at the station 38 and his duties are to control the operation of the motors. l3 and 25 as follows:

In order to move a stack of green lumber to the break-down unit, he operates motor 13 by means of controls (not shown) until the stack reaches a position shown in Fig. 2that is, against the standards 3|. The operator at station 38 then starts the motor 25 which causes the shaft 22 to rotate and through the cable 21 and pusher arm 29 to raise the knee 30 until the uppermostlayer of boards 39 clears the lip 31.

It will be noted that the arm 29 is attached to the knee 30 somewhat outside of the center of the stack'35 causing the stack 35 and the standards 3| to tilt to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2.

Transfer unit The transfer unit consists of an elevated table 40 which is mounted on the standards 4|, 42 and secured thereon a sprocket wheel 52 which is connected by means of a chain 53 to the sprocket 62 to thefive, tapered bars 63 which areeslidably mounted inparallelism across the width of the transfer section. The throw of the crank 55 is such that when the crank islin the position:

shown in Fig. 3, the point 64 of. each bar 631s withdrawn beyond the ends 65'of'the table;

Each bar 63 has pivotally mounted; thereon; a:-

dog 66 which is rockable onthe pint] and its. ends 68 for limiting in its downwardmovement' the projector 69 which engages the stop; pin. Ill;v The dogs 66 are so arranged that the boards ll may pass over the end 'IZund'erthe' action; of? the chains 44 causing the-dogs 66t'o=assume the posi'g tion shownin Fig. 5 I

On the shaft 50' i'ssecuredi thecam-13; which engages a roller 14 secured to th ide of the slottedlink 75 whose slotilfi receives the shaft" 55; and whoseupper end-.isconnectedby means of a pin 11 to the weighted lever'fii whichisgpivoted on the journal 'l'fl securedsto thestjandard 8B? A weight 815 is adjustably mounted-on the: lever 18. The end 82 of the; lever 18" is connectedjbv the link 83 to the vertically slidable'stopsgil l" which" are either: in a ered position as shown mFis; 3 or" in, an e ev te ino ib as show 7; their Pu p se he gj p e nt he umb r from. returning to the transfer; chains as the-bars 6 re e The t ps; sume in th straps 8.5. which are securedt'o. the transier channel bares:

Slidablv mounteda'long; side ofthe standard 80; are t e. u st' c er knees 8. which. mov only. i a verticalfplane- A tones.- isp cv dcid to t purpose, of s r ht mng onefsii ge Q f hcj ta k- The kneestjl. ride o nither llers 85$ whichare confinedby thesidfesof the channel shaped membar 89. Eachkneefl is' upnorted'by p her m wwhoselower ehdifll is titached ota cable 92 which passes over a "drum 53" on thetransfen shaft, 94 which is secured. to, a sprocket; Wheel; 9 5

' whoseichain 9dis-operatediromthe. sprocketpine ion 91 on the motiu'f.drivenE reduction gearing 9,8 whose motor 99 isiunder; the controljofjtheoper- Outgoing; chains 11313.; are, disposed; beneath. th knees 83 and. conveythe, carrier: platforms 361th the kilns or. to air drying; 1QcatiQns'. The chains lilil. are operated by the. motor, H1], through the reducti n earing. 11112? through; he hai'r'r t lfi.

which drives thetransuerse; shaft. liflflfcwhich,

turn drivesthe chains-109;, I

An. operator known as tlhe} sticker man islecatedat station, [05, and itjis-his duty to. place upon each layer of boards}thestickers I06. which, serve t provide, ventilation, between the boards and tie the boards of the stack togethen;

The operation of. thisxportion of the device is as follows: I p

As theoperatorat station 338 permits a layer of boards 358130 sli de=from the knees "ill bv'rai'sin'g the stack 35'- to the; poiil dwherethey will clear thelip 31, the entire layer ofibeards ?;9sl ide's' downwardly" upon the trans-fer?" conveyor chains 44: The chains 44now= move the layen-or 'tier-of boards 39 horizontally until? thew-reach the end Hiof; the dogs 6E causing them to disappear'as showninFi'g.

When the last board of a tier 39 passes the end 12, the end automatically rises to the position shown in Fig. 3 due to its unbalanced condition.

The operator at station 49 now causes the motor 55 to operate. The parts are now in the position shown in Fig. 3 in which the cam 13 has raised the roller 14 leaving the stops 84 in their lowermost position. The rotation of the shaft and crank 56 causes the levers 6| to move to thezposition shown in Fig. Tin: whi'clnt he; tapered arms-63 carrythe tier on boards against the stop 88 under the action of the dogs 66.

It will be noted that while these boards are heing pusheditoward the stop 88 they are all in contact with each other and the total of the upper layer; is'somewhat less than the width of the restacked package I01.

As the m0t0r'55c0ntinues to revolve, the roller L4: drops off of the cam 73 causing the stops 84 to rise and prevent the backward movement of theboards as the tapered members 6'3'are; withdrawn-that is; all oftheboards'except thefirst aremoved backwardly'until they'are' stopped: by the members 84; leaving a crack; orspace I08 between the two'outermost boards for ventilation purposes and also to leave the, outermost; sides of, thepackage perfectly straight.

It canbe seen from theforegoing that by this relatively simple apparatus, it is possible to take aypa'ckage of'somewhat unevenly piled green lumber-from the saws and'quickly and accurately repile same placing stickers between the-various layers of boardsand causing the outermost edgesof-thepackage to be in alinement-that is; in a vertical planeleaving-vo-id's within for ventilatingpurposes.

The operation of thedevice is as'follows: Bearing i'rrmind that the objectis to take stacks of: roughly piled lumber as it comesfrom" the saws and in' which COIlditiOn various numbers of boards may form the different tiers andthe boards in 'eachtier may be spaced and not in parallelism; It will beassumed that such: a stack of boards 3.5;has beenm'oved'ina position by; the pull-up chains I0. as shownin Fig;- 2. The stack- 35 is then elevated by the pusher-arm 29, which also serves'to inclinethe stack elevatoras-shown in dotted'lines: As-each tier of boards from the stack 39 rises above the conveyor table 40,- the tier slides downwardly onto the; chains 44,, and the boards in the tier are carried along until-the first one engages the stops 84, after which the following boards are all -move d*up intoclose contact with the preceding lboards; and the chain- 44 merely slips underneath theboards in the tier. I I

Now assuming that the pusher arm-SiT-has been lowered to theposition shownin Fig. 3 and sticks I06 have been placed across the stack thusfar formed, then any-lowering oi" the-stops 8'4 and simultaneous moving of the levers'fil will cause the dog end 12 to move as many of the boards II as are required to make one full tier. Now the; dog ends 12 move faster than; do the chains 4.4, andzth rhaveitime tofde iver the tier of boards.

tothe; newly. formed; stack onzthe knees 8:1; and

return: age-into the position shown; in B 3,;- Obviously' the, chains 4.41 can-.- continue to. advance: boards overfthe dog end; 12.;by-merely'depressing;

same. 1 V v The function of the tapered endv 6.3:isnshown best in Fig. '7 wherein it' will be noted that the pQints of the' members 635 do notareach the" end most board-which contactsthestop wz In; othen words; the first board-ispermitted to rest upon? the package the sticks, or stickers as they are called, so that the return movement of the member 63 will carry all of the boards but the one which is touching the stop 88 until the rearmost board contacts the stops 84, after which a further withdrawal of the members 63 would permit the boards to drop, one after the other onto the supporting sticks, leaving the newly formed stack perfectly even along the edges and perfectly bounded and separated for ventilation by the ties, at the same time insuring at least one void in each tier for the vertical passage of air therethrough, and to permit a reasonable variation in the lumber width, which of course normally exists.

I claim:

1. An apparatus of the class described having in combination a transfer table having transfer chains mounted thereon adapted to carry a layer of boards the length of the table, tapering arms shorter than the width of said layer slidably mounted under said transfer chains forming an extension therefor, said tapering arms having dogs thereon for engaging the rearmost edge of the layer and pushing it outwardly to a predetermined line representing one edge of a package to be formed and then withdrawing all of the boards but one so that the outermost edge thereof coincides with the second side of the stack to be formed in amanner-to .produce lateral voids in the stack.

2. A device of the class described consisting of a horizontal chain conveyor adapted to carry a layer of boards in combination with a pair of reciprocating'arms disposed in parallelism with said conveyor, the top side of said arm sloping downwardly toward the discharging end thereof the length of said arms being less than the width of said layer, dogs pivotally mounted. on said arms adapted to engage boards placed on said conveyor when moved forwardly and to slide along the underside of said boards when moved backwardly, a movable stop in front of said chain conveyor behind which a plurality of boards can be gathered, a second stop disposed from said first mentioned stop at a distance approximating the width of a stack to be formed, a stacker disposed between said stops including means for lowering same as tiers of boards are disposed thereon.

WALTER H. BEANE. 

